


Animus

by Uhei



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: Alterations made to canon verse, Angst, Basketball is the least of their suffering, Don't Have to Know Canon, Except they're magical boys, Gen, Kyubey is Evil, Loosely based AU, Lots of Angst, Magical girl!AU, Major spoilers for Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika, Misunderstood Puremine, The whole damn canon verse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2017-12-31 06:32:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uhei/pseuds/Uhei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Winter Cup, Kagami wakes one day to find that Kuroko is gone- and nobody seems to remember or know him. There is a red-eyed creature at his window, and the Miracles had a different reason for splitting up. Loosely based on the Puella Magi Madoka Magica verse (the events following the death of Walpurgisnacht) , but sort of follows canon. Written because there is no precedent for a Magicalgirl!AU, and I'm dying for one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gone

The two quietly walked back, the cold air condensing their breaths and giving Kuroko's white face a frosty look. They continued on in silence until they reached the court, and Kagami started to dribble the ball slowly. This was the court where it had all started. Then Kagami couldn't hold in it any longer, and broke into a full-out grin. "We did it…we've become the No.1 in Japan." Jubilant red eyes met gleeful blue ones under the light of the streetlamp, and if Kuroko wasn't feeling so cold he'd jump and embrace Kagami. Instead he settled for smiling at his partner. "That's right Kagami-kun. We did it. You, me and everyone from Seirin." Then the two of them were laughing, and the cold frigid air they inhaled stung in their throats, but they were too happy to care. Kagami looked up and saw Kuroko sporting a strangely soulful look. "Everyone's going to be all right now," he said quietly. "We no longer have a need to despair."

* * *

Kagami vaguely remembered wanting to ask Kuroko what that statement meant before he woke up.

Huh, even in his dreams he was thinking about having won the Winter Cup. A smile curled his lips. Today marked the fourth day after the Winter Cup, and he'd had just enough time to rest his aching body from the intense match with Rakuzan last week. Coach had given them time off since their lives had practically revolved around basketball for the last two months. He reached for his phone, wanting to call Kuroko and ask him if he was free to hang out. Knowing the other, he would probably offer (rather forcefully) to tutor Kagami's schoolwork since his grades had been so gracefully revealed during the last clubroom clean-up. Oh well, he'd still want the company.

Kagami had scrolled through his list of contacts under the syllable "Ku" a few times before he'd realized he couldn't find the contact. His misshapen red eyebrows shot up, perturbed as he scrolled from A-Z again, only to come up with nothing.

Nothing.

Had he deleted Kuroko's contact by mistake? Guess he would ask the boy personally later, their team was throwing a party later this afternoon to celebrate their victory over the Winter Cup. He scrubbed the scuff of hair at the back of his neck, wondering what he would do to fill the hours.

After a completely boring afternoon, Kagami walked to the meeting place at the gate where he could see his seniors were already assembled. Izuki was the first to catch sight of him, as usual, waving him over with an "Oi, Kagami!" 

" 'Sup. How's everyone been doing?" Koganei and the others gave him grins, while Mitobe just looked faintly pleased. Riko ran up then, apologizing for her tardiness. Kagami looked around. "So where's Kuroko? Let me guess, he's just right at the back…eh?" His silent teammate was nowhere around, and when he turned around his teammates were giving him strange looks. "Who's Kuroko, Kagami? Don't tell me you invited your girlfriend to the party." Furihata and the rest chuckled while Riko punched his arm. "Don't tell me you've gotten a girlfriend in just four days, Bakagami! If you've the time, spend it on your studies!"

"Ouch! No, seriously senpai, don't joke with me. Where's Kuroko?" Kagami replied. "Kuroko? We don't know no Kuroko." Koganei piped up, while Hyuuga gave him a serious look. "Kagami, did you hit your head too hard during the match?" Kagami laughed tonelessly. "That's not funny, Hyuuga-senpai…no shit, you're serious." Heavy realization sank to the pit of his stomach. "Don't you guys remember? Kuroko Tetsuya, no.11, always disappearing whenever he's not supposed to? Creepy little dude who's my shadow?" The concerned gazes of his teammates made him feel as if he'd been punched. Then after a pause, Riko spoke up. "I'm taking him to the doctor's, Hyuuga-kun. Teppei, take them all to the restaurant first."

Kagami protested, but was dragged to the clinic anyways. After it was confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Kagami's head, although Kagami insisted there was something wrong with _theirs_ , Riko sat him down outside in the hallway and listened to his convoluted explanations of how they could never have won without this "Kuroko" personality. "He was our teammate, coach. Don't you remember?" He said almost pleadingly, and Riko looked at him piteously. "I'm sorry, Kagami, but this person you mention was never on our team, I'm sure of that. Even if I don't trust my own memories, Hyuuga-kun and the rest don't have any recollection of him either."

Kagami swallowed. This wasn't happening. Had everything with Kuroko been a dream? It wasn't possible, he didn't have the imagination for anything except basketball plays and even then he was shit at literature, there was no way he could think someone as enigmatic as Kuroko up. "But he was one of the Generation Of Miracles. Y'know, the sixth man." He tried one last time. Riko continued to look at him weird.

"There was never a sixth man, Kagami. The Generation Of Miracles only has five people."

* * *

Kagami still couldn't believe this was happening. How could everyone forget about Kuroko? Was he the only one who still remembered? Was it all a dream? It couldn't be. He could still remember the ache in his palm, but it was a ache that felt right, felt like it belonged every time Kuroko sent the the ball singing into a pass in his grasp before Kagami followed up with an alley-oop. Kagami was sure he didn't do alley-oops so often before Kuroko came along. These confused thoughts swirled around his head as he walked down the streets darkened past evening. Every step he took came with the sure pound of the ring back against his chest on its chain. _'It was like Kagami-kun was telling me not to throw it away.'_ Everything was tied to his existence. Everything didn't make sense. He looked up absentmindedly when he reached a road junction, and his eyes widened when they took in a boy dressed casually in a striped shirt and navy jacket, with distracted blue eyes and frosty hair tinted almost-not-there blue. The boy stood at the junction, and his eyes did not meet Kagami's. He was going to call out to the other when...

 _Kuroko,_ was on the tip of his tongue, but before he could call out a car cut off his line of sight and when it passed the boy was gone.

Kagami wasn't sure if he was going mad.


	2. Red Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Midorima, what are you wearing?"

Seirin's team practice was interrupted by a scream. The boys turned as one to the source, and heaved a collective sigh. "Kagami," There is both irritation and resignation in Hyuuga's tone. "Man up, you can't keep hiding in a corner every time Nigou shows up."

Riko picked up No.2 while training a disapproving look on Kagami. "You'd think that with all the time you spend around Nigou, you'd be rid of that dog phobia by now, Kagami." Kagami reeled. "Just that dog alone is evil!…" An idea popped into his head. "Hey, coach, why did we take him in again?"

 

Riko buckled the collar around the puppy's neck. "Well, of course that's…" She paused. "Huh. Yeah, why did we do that in the first place…" Hope started to rise, but then Riko's face brightened. "I'm pretty sure it was because he's so cute!"

 

Kagami palmed his face.

* * *

 

Halfway through logarithm homework, Kagami must have fallen asleep, for it was dark when he raised his head from the table. He heard a knock while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

 

" _Taiga, I'm at your door."_ A high-pitched voice beckoned, and it sounded muffled. Tatsuya? Kagami got up, groaning drowsily and rubbing his stiff neck. He shuffled over to his door (no slippers, that was a little bit of returnee in him) and opened the door to see the bloodied carcass of a cat thing, with something that looked rather like the head of a spear, glinting sharply and inlaid with diamond-shaped designs shot between one of his ears to the other. Kagami promptly shut the door. 

 

What.

 

He re-opened it rather hesitantly, and not a trace of the gruesome sight was on his doormat. Huh, maybe he was half-asleep.

 

"Kagami Taiga." He shot up, ramrod straight. "If you hear voices in your head or see red-eyed creatures, you'd do best to ignore them." Still groggy from his nap, Kagami couldn't pinpoint the owner of the familiar commanding voice. "Who's there?"

 

His only answer was the hollow sound of the chilly night wind blowing down his corridor. _Ah, damn_ , he shivered, _I have to shut the door or the apartment will get cold._ Well-off as he was, he didn't like having to trouble his dad for living expenses, so Kagami stubbornly refused to turn on the heating, even as winter turned the pavements white.

 

Visions of the sight at his doorstep haunted Kagami that night, and he recalled in his brief glance at the animal, that its eyes had been an unsettling red.

* * *

 

"So, what's this? You're okay with cats, but not with dogs?" Kagami jumped a little as Furihata peeped over his shoulder. "Stop that, you're not Kuroko!" He batted the fellow first-year away. Furihata gave him a sad look, the one they all gave him when he brought up Kuroko. He returned his gaze to the search window on his phone. There sure weren't any breed of cats with such white fur and red eyes, only perhaps the albino ones, and certainly not with ears as long as the ones he'd remembered. Then he remembered there was a voice calling him last night.

 

"Furihata, I think I'm being stalked." Kagami said, with the tone of one having a revelation.

 

"Huh? Why do you think that?" Cue the concern.

 

"'Cause I'm pretty sure I heard voices last night." That look of concern warped into a worried one. "Uh, Kagami, are you sure you don't want to talk to someone? How 'bout Ogata-sensei?"

 

"Dude, why would I be talking to the school counsellor? Oh okay, no you're misunderstanding, I'm not crazy, don't _look_ at me like that."

 

"Those voices were not in my head, there was someone standing outside my door."

 

This was received rather doubtfully indeed by Furihata, but he nodded anyway. "Mmkay, and what did they say to you."

 

"They both called me by name, I think. Then said something about ignoring voices in my head and red eyes." Furihata was taking a step back.

 

"I'm NOT crazy. Anyway, let's go grab some lunch, I'm starving." If anything hadn't changed, it was Kagami's massive diet, Furihata smiled as he watched Kagami wolf down an extra-long BLT. In retrospect, it wasn't that difficult to believe his story seeing as there was a couple of people they happened to know who called Kagami by his full name, and Kagami himself had red eyes.

* * *

 

The day goes smoothly for Kagami as it can for anyone whose entire team thinks they have gone insane. Kagami doesn't, after all, know how to respond when Hyuuga-senpai offers to walk him home in case he is worried serial killers are after him. Kagami ditches all of them, and runs to Majiba after practice, intent on filling his stomach before he goes to find a padlock for his door. He isn't being paranoid, but anyone likely to dump a dead cat on his doorstep must be an unsavory character.

 

It is eleven when Kagami lies awake in his bed. "Ah, screw this!" He doesn't even have a match with strong opponents tomorrow, so now the pent-up confusion about yesterday night's events is clearly the cause for his insomnia. Kicking off the sheets, he grabbed his basketball shoes and headed off to the court.

 

In Japan, he'd heard not many people stayed out so late on weekdays, even if it was Tokyo. So it came as a bit of a surprise to see a guy standing in the court, ball rolling away from his feet. "Hey, uh, I wanna- I would like to use the court too...please." Kagami said, approaching the man who still stood with his back facing him. Kagami frowned. The man was ignoring him, and before he reached out to tap the guy on the shoulder the man turned and started trudging away. "Thanks, er,…hey, your ball!" Kagami scooped it up and walked after the guy, who still paid him no attention.

 

The man was walking as if he was drunk, swaying a bit but still walking in a straight line. In a straight line right into the road. "OI!" Kagami pulled the guy back by the hood of his sweater, about to ask what the heck he thought he was doing, but his belligerent thoughts all crashed as he saw the guy's eyes clearly for the first time. They were blank, almost dead-looking. Kind of…soulless.

 

"Humph, and to think Cancer is ranked third today." 

 

A familiar conceited voice echoed. Kagami watched, mouth hanging open as he watched Midorima Shintarou draw a bow from his back, take aim and shoot with precision an arrow- or not, it was like light so condensed it became a hard-looking glowing green shard. The shard pierced right through a dark, writhing figure Kagami could only describe as a monster (Seirin was right, Kagami thought, he was going crazy) and the boy landed on his toes gracefully in the park across the street from where Kagami stood.

 

Then he turned around, and froze up at the sight of Kagami, still clutching the fallen man by the back of his jacket. Words eluded them both for a long time as they stared back at the other, and Kagami picked up his jaw.

 

"Midorima, what are you _wearing_?" 

 

Clover-shaped buttons adorned the front of Midorima's long cream tweed coat that ended not with coattails but sage-coloured ruffles. With lace. The boy's face itself is turning a little green, looking like he'd rather find a hole to die in and spare himself having to explain this to Kagami. Out of the propriety, Midorima very reluctantly crosses the road and approaches Kagami. "It-it's not what you think." He bit out, avoiding Kagami's stare. "I'm not _cosplaying_." The way he pronounces the word, it almost sounds profane.

 

" _That's_ what you're worried about? Ugh, okay listen, where's Kuroko?" Kagami is secretly relieved, because as pathetic as it sounds, he'd rather be crazy with someone than crazy alone. So much for that though, because Midorima scowls at him, and says; "I don't know who you're talking about." Kagami growled. "Okay, this shit is seriously getting old. Don't you remember your own teammate from Teikou?" Midorima pushes up his glasses, as magically the coat fades and he is back in his school blazer, although _why_ he is in his school blazer Kagami wouldn't even to bother to ask. "If it's a former teammate you're asking me about, I didn't bother with remembering the weak ones." Kagami grit his teeth.

 

"What the heck was wrong with you Miracle people- and anyway, Kuroko's on my team, he prevented you from scoring that last buzzer beater." Midorima's brows crinkled in confusion. "What? It was you who smacked it down while still in the air." Midorima stared at Kagami. "No, forget it. Leos are supposed to have a life-changing discovery today. What's with this Kuroko person?"

 

The Shuutoku ace is slightly uncomfortable when Kagami shakes his head in earnest. "I don't know, he suddenly up and vanished."

 

"This…Kuroko, he couldn't have been a puerum magi, could he?" Kagami nearly choked on his saliva. If anything else wasn't an indication that he was crazy, hearing words like "magical boy" out of Midorima's mouth certainly was.

 

"Uh, Midorima, are you feeling alright? I mean, it's none of my business what you do in your free time, except if it's basketball-"

 

Midorima started to resemble a tomato more than a carrot. "S-shut up! I'm only going to say this once, and only because I've had the misfortune of being seen by you."

 

And then Kagami heard the most ludicrous story from Midorima he was ever told in his entire existence. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the feedback to the previous chapter, I'm unworthy ;A;  
> This was written a long time ago and I wanted to find a beta-reader who could judge the plot first before publishing it but because I'm alone in my headcanons I can't find that lovely someone soooo I can't help but just publish this and hope for the best ;_;  
> I wonder if I should write in whatever Midorima is telling Kagami presuming people haven't watched Madoka Magica yet, but it's going to be like CHUNKS of dialogue if that happens.

**Author's Note:**

> What is this crap OTL  
> I don't know, and this isn't the best thing to put out as a first post on AO3.  
> Still wondering how deeply I should involve Momoi... and whether to set any relationships in this  
> (Please tell me I wasn't the only one imagining a Magicalgirl!AU for KnB)


End file.
